Deliberations Resume Today In Riddick Case

A federal jury deliberated throughout the day yesterday, then quit for the night in the cocaine conspiracy trial of Harry Riddick and six other defendants.

Deliberations, which began Friday, will resume this morning in the new federal courthouse in Allentown.

About noon yesterday, the jurors asked U.S. District Court Chief Judge Edward Cahn whether all defendants should be acquitted of conspiracy if one of the defendants is considered not guilty. They also wanted to know if all the defendants have to be linked directly to Riddick in what they did.

Cahn replied that if the government failed to prove conspiracy against one defendant, that does not necessarily mean all the others are not guilty.

Defendants don't have to have a direct link to Riddick. "A courier may have no contact with the leader, yet that person may have joined willfully in the conspiracy," Cahn said.

At the jury's request, the judge read testimony of state drug agent William Nemetz of transactions in 1991 with defendant Phill Gross.

The jurors also wanted to know what happened to defendants Brenda Inabinett and Clara Smith, who were not in the case at the end of the trial.

Cahn said, "That's not before you."

A mistrial was declared in Inabinett's case because of something the prosecutor said in front of the jury.

Smith was dismissed after her attorney, Michael Moyer, argued successfully that the evidence showed only that she was a customer.